Fort Brady, Part 1

The lower earthworks are in Fort Brady.  (Fort Brady was the southern anchor of the federal lines on the east side of Richmond,  right on the James River).

Same location? The National Park Service thinks so, this is where they display the picture on one of the little information stands they have at Fort Brady.

I wanted to get a clearer version of that pic, so I hunted it down in the Library of Congress.

In the Library of Congress archives, that picture is labeled "Interior View of Fort Brady, James River, Va., near Dutch Gap Canal, photographed between 1861 and 1865, printed later."

But it's not.

They're wrong.

The archived picture isn't Fort Brady at all.

It looks good, doesn't it?  You keep looking at the picture, and it seems to fit.  The angle is different, but obviously the photographer of the archive picture must have been standing on something.

Frankly, if someone gave me the top picture, and told me to find that location in Fort Brady, I would have settled on the exact same place the NPS chose.

And the original title on the picture says it's Fort Brady, so what's the problem?

Well, my quest for a clear pic sent me off on a three day adventure through the archives and hours of frustrated sorting and re-examining.

Then, when I thought the mystery was solved, I went back to Fort Brady.

And discovered an even bigger mystery.

More on that tomorrow.